Mocking of Suntory's mixed-race Japanese-Korean models and actresses by DHL cosmetics CEO outrages internet

Social media users in South Korea have reacted furiously to remarks attributed to the CEO of one of Japan's leading cosmetics companies, calling for a boycott of DHC Corp. And the campaign appears to be attracting both attention and support in Japan.

In a comment reported on the Tokyo-based company's website, DHC CEO Yoshiaki Yoshida criticised Suntory, another Japanese company that is a rival to DHC in the health supplements sector.

"For some reason, the models hired to appear in Suntory commercials are almost all Korean-Japanese," he said. "So that's why it seems they are mocked on the internet as 'Chon-tory'," he wrote. "Chon" is a discriminatory term for Koreans among some in Japan.

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Yoshida emphasised his point by adding, "Everything at DHC is pure Japanese, including the actors we hire [for advertising]. DHC is a well-established company, almost reaching our 50th anniversary."

Yoshida's comments were made in November but were only recently picked up by social media users in Japan. As soon as the remarks were highlighted on Twitter and other platforms, South Korean media began reporting the issue.

The reply from Korean consumers was swift, with many taking to social media to declare that they would no longer purchase DHC products, resuscitating a campaign to not purchase Japanese imports that began when Seoul and Tokyo were engaged in a war of words over their shared history earlier in the year but subsequently began to fade.

"We gave up Asahi beer before so let's start boycotting Japan again," said one message on the Naver news website. "Do not go to Japan. Do not buy Japanese. No to Japan."

On the same site, another added, "Anyone who has given up being human must be treated the same way. Among Koreans, except for pro-Japanese dogs, everyone with a normal spirit should practice 'No Japan' more strongly than ever before."

A further comment read, "The temperament and attitudes of the island country will never change."

Some have pointed out, however, that Yoshida has a track record of racially offensive remarks aimed at Japan's neighbours.

DHC TV, the broadcasting arm of a company whose corporate logo is "Made in Japan, loved worldwide", aired a programme in which an outspoken nationalist appeared as a panellist and in which it was claimed that Koreans should appreciate Japan creating a standardised version of Korea's "hangeul" alphabet.

Other programmes on the channel have discussed the issue of "comfort women" forced to serve in brothels for the Japanese military before and during World War II.

In 2016, Yoshida referred to ethnic Koreans living in Japan as "pseudo-Japanese" and said they should "return to the country they are from".

The company was admonished by broadcasting authorities in 2018 for comments that infringed on foreign residents' human rights, to which Yoshida replied, "I am worried because there are too many Koreans with anti-Japanese thoughts living in Japan."

The Korean actress and model Jung Yu-mi has announced she will no longer represent DHC Corp in its advertising campaigns after its CEO's remarks. Photo: AFP

In protest, Korean actress and model Jung Yu-mi announced that she would no longer represent the company in its advertising campaigns and The Korea Times, in an editorial, accused DHC of "lacking a minimum of basic ethics as a business entity" for claiming that freedom of speech permitted it to make statements that amounted to hate speech.

There seem to be plenty of Japanese who are similarly outraged at Yoshida's most recent comments, with one message on Twitter stating, "It is a criminal action to publicise this statement in many developed countries. How in the world could we, as nationals of a supposedly civilised country, let it continue?"

Another added, "I can't believe this. I thought using the word 'chon' was pretty much dead, like no-one under 70 used it. And now comes the resurgence..."

A Japanese person commenting on the Japan Today website wrote, "What an embarrassment to the nation of Japan he is." Another added, "Either the board of directors should oust the CEO or the public should refrain from buying DHC products, which sadly would put a lot of 'pure' Japanese out of work."

DHC was contacted by the South China Morning Post to comment on the issue but has declined to do so.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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